ABOUT BENGALS

Bengals are extremely intelligent, curious to learn, loyal, very affectionate, friendly and love children. Typically, they are outgoing, curious, playful cats. They get along great with dogs, our Bengals sleep with our dog. Bengals love to play fetch and roll over. Our Bengals have joined us in the bath tub!!!

Bengals enjoy sitting on your shoulders or being at the tallest height possible. They love to be around people. Bengals shed very little as their coat is more like a pelt then like fur.

We produce some of the best kittens in the world. We ship them to approved homes only. Using a shipping company that takes the best care of our Bengal kittens. We also hand deliver some of our kittens if asked. We are a small cattery and we are only breeding brown rosetted Bengals. First comes health, temperament, pattern and then type.

The Bengal cat is a medium to a relatively large shorthaired exotic cat. Bengals vary in size with the male between 14 to 16 pounds and females slightly smaller at ten to 12 pounds. Bengals are very muscular cats with long bodies, thus appearing larger. They are also sturdy and substantial in appearance. The face should have a wild expression with small rounded ears, intense facial markings, and pronounced whisker pads. Careful selection of breeding ensures that the Bengal remains loving and friendly with a sweet temperament, while retaining a strong physical resemblance to its wild ancestor.

The domestic Bengal cat is highly intelligent and affectionate cat. With their captivating and strikingly beautiful wild appearance. They are really like having a small leopard in your home, while still being so dependably sweet natured and delightfully loving. The Bengal can be very mischievous and boisterous. They are active cats always ready to play. You can easily harness train them and teach them to fetch and most anything you can teach a dog. You will find that they are very "dog-like" in personality, following you from room to room in your home and always greeting you with a loving welcome. They are also very vocal cats, always eager for human companionship and approval. The Bengal is great with children and other animals. With their silk like, soft coat, this is more like a pelt than ordinary cat fur. They have rabbit like back legs and can jump very high, I have seen them just up on top of a open door. The Bengal is also unique in that these cats actually love and enjoy water. Some will join you in the bath tub or the shower. The Bengal cat will be a loyal life companion. They live the life span of 15-18 years, some live longer. It may be worth considering obtaining two Bengals for company if you are likely to be out of the home all day. They do get lonely by themselves. I have heard people say that Bengal cats are Hypoallergenic. This is not true. What is true is that some people who are allergic to cats may not be allergic to Bengals. Whether male or female, this exotic, unique cat will hold a place in your heart forever like no cat as ever done before. Once you have had one Bengal you usually come back for a second one.

The main credit for this breed is given to Jean Sudgen (Jean Mills) of the USA. The Bengal Cat originated in Yuma Arizona in 1963 with the first documented crossing between an Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) and a shorthaired black domestic tomcat. The result of this union was Kin Kin, who was then mated back to her father, resulting in the birth of a second generation (F2) litter.

Later in 1975, Jean Sudgen, now Mrs. Jean Mill, acquired eight female hybrids from a geneticist called Dr. Willard Centerwall, who had been involved in a breeding program where Asian Leopard Cats were crossed with domestic cats as part of a study for research into their apparent immunity to Feline Leukaemia that is evident in the ALC's. These eight cats, along with a rosetted bright orange feral cat from a zoo in Delhi, became the springboard from which were produced the foundation cats of the Bengal breed that we know today.
It was found that the males from the first generation (F1's) were always sterile as is common in inter-species matings but on the plus side it was found that some females were fertile and these were then crossed with affectionate domestic tomcats. The resulting kittens (F2’s) were far less aloof and more sociable with humans and some of the F2 males were found to be fertile.
As time went on, more bloodlines were being established by other breeders, notably Dr. Gregg Kent, whose hybridizations with an ALC was with an Egyptian Mau female. So the breed gathered momentum, and in 1985 the International Cat Association (TICA) allowed the breed to go on exhibition at their shows in the USA. This caused a tremendous amount of interest and people came from far and wide to view this first hybrid breed of cat. Then in 1992 TICA admitted the F4’s onwards (from this stage they were considered to be domestic cats), Championship status.
The breed has however, not been welcomed so openly by the GCCF, the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy in the UK which is the feline equivalent of the Kennel Club. It was only in April of 2006 after years of pushing the breed forward that the Brown Spotted Bengals were eligible to compete at Championship level.

Foundation Bengals

The first three generations resulting from crossing the Asian Leopard Cat (ALC) x Bengal are considered "Foundation Bengals".
F-1 refers to the first generation cross between the ALC and the domestic cat
F-2 is the second generation cross (the offspring of the F-1 and the domestic Bengal)
F-3 is the third generation (the offspring of the F-2 and a Bengal).
The International Cat Association (TICA) considers the fourth generation (F-4) to be a "SBT" (Studbook tradition) Bengal, eligible for competition in the show ring and is a fully accepted domestic cat. F4 Bengals and generations thereafter are fully domesticated and make excellent pets and companions.
Below please find a information clarifying the early generation terminology used by the Bengal world today (not including domestic out crosses):